1952 : Gladys Knight & The Pips form at a birthday party for her brother Bubba.

1954 : To coincide with the release of his second Sun single, ‘Good Rockin’ Tonight’, Elvis Presley, along with Bill Black and Scotty Moore made their first appearance at The Grand Old Opry. The audience reaction was so poor, the Opry’s manager, Jim Denny told Elvis that he should go back to driving a truck.

1958 : Jerry Butler & the Impressions make their national TV debut on American Bandstand.

1959 : After some stabbings in the city, New York radio station WCBS stops playing Bobby Darin’s Mack The Knife.

1962 : The Beatles’ first formal recording session at EMI’s Abbey Road studios took place. George Martin was unhappy with a previous session on June 6, so he called The Beatles back into the studio to try again. They recorded six songs, including ‘Love Me Do’ and ‘Please Please Me.’

1964 : The Animals make their U.S. concert debut at New York’s Paramount Theatre.

1965 : The Beatles started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Help’, the title of their second film and the group’s ninth US No.1.

1965 : The Who had their van stolen containing over £5000 worth of equipment outside the Battersea Dogs Home. The band were inside the home at the time buying a guard dog. The van was later recovered.

1968 : The Bee Gees had their second UK No.1 single with ‘I’ve Gotta Get A Message To You’. The song is about a man who, awaiting his execution in the electric chair, begs the prison chaplain to pass a final message on to his wife.

1968 : The Beatles recorded promotional videos for ‘Hey Jude’ and ‘Revolution’ at Twickenham Film Studios. The vocals are recorded live over the pre-recorded instrumental tracks to get round the current British Musicians Union ban on lip-sync performances. For ‘Hey Jude’, The Beatles were accompanied by a 36-piece orchestra and 300 fans and other assorted extras who join in singing the long refrain.

1968 : Street Fighting Man by The Rolling Stones is banned in Chicago and some other cities as local officials fear it will incite riots.

1969 : The Youngbloods walk out on a Tonight Show appearance on NBC because of poor sound quality.

1969 : The film ‘Easy Rider’ starring Jack Nicholson Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper opened at The Classic in London England. The movie’s soundtrack featured The Band, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, and Steppenwolf.

1971 : Taken from the album ‘Ram’, Paul and Linda McCartney went to No.1 on the US singles chart with the US only released ‘Uncle Albert / Admiral Halsey’. McCartney’s first US solo No.1. Paul would later explain that “Uncle Albert” was based on his real-life uncle. “He’s someone I recall fondly and when the song was coming, it was like a nostalgia thing… As for Admiral Halsey, he’s one of yours, an American admiral”, referring to Admiral William “Bull” Halsey.

1971 : The last episode of This Is Tom Jones airs on ABC-TV.

1972 : Concessionaire Francisco Caruso was killed during a Wishbone Ash concert in Texas after refusing to give a fan a free sandwich.

1972 : John Lennon and Yoko Ono appeared on Jerry Lewis’ Muscular Dystrophy Telethon Show on US television.

1976 : Fleetwood Mac’s self-titled album makes #1 a year after its release, knocking off Peter Frampton’s Frampton Comes Alive. The album went on to sell over 5 million copies in the US and was the first of three No.1 albums for the group.

1976 : The Bee Gees went to No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘You Should Be Dancing’, the group’s third US No.1, a No.5 hit n the UK. It was this song that launched the trio into Disco stardom and is the first chart-topper in which Barry Gibb used his now-trademark falsetto.

1976 : The Sex Pistols made their television debut when they appeared on the Manchester based Granada TV program ‘So It Goes’.

1979 : The Grateful Dead played the first of three nights at Madison Square Garden, New York, New York City.

1980 : A new version of Yes, with Chris Squire, Steve Howe, Alan White, Geoff Downes and Trevor Horn played the first of three sold out nights at New York’s Madison Square Garden.

1982 : Survivor were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with the theme from the film Rocky III ‘Eye Of The Tiger’, their only chart topper. Survivor won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance for the song.

1982 : The Steve Miller Band started a two week run at No.2 on the US singles chart with ‘Abracadabra’ the group’s third US No.1, a No.2 hit in the UK. The song is said to have been inspired by Diana Ross with whom Miller had met while performing together on Hullabaloo in the 1960’s.

1982 : Frank Zappa’s single “Valley Girl” reaches #32 on the US Billboard Hot 100. This marks the sole time Zappa charted in the Top-40 in the United States, despite being an international hit abroad and producing a career total of 62 albums in his lifetime.

1986 : After just getting his driving license back after a five-year suspension, Gregg Allman from The Allman Brothers Band was arrested in Florida for drunk driving.

1987 : Mike Joyce drummer with The Smiths, quit the band saying that ‘the present role within the group had been fulfilled’.

1995 : Blur, Oasis, Radiohead, Paul Weller, Manic St Preachers and The Stone Roses all recorded tracks for the ‘War Child’ charity album, which was released five days later. All profits went to children caught up in the current war in former Yugoslavia.

1996 : Oasis created outrage at the MTV awards held at New York’s Radio City Hall. During the bands performance of ‘Champagne Supernova’ singer Liam spat on stage and threw a beer into the crowd.

2006 : Mike Gibbins drummer with Badfinger died in his sleep at his Florida home aged 56. Badfinger had the 1970 UK No.4 & US No.7 single ‘Come And Get It’. He had also been a member of The Iveys during the 60’s.

2007 : The Police played the first UK date on their Reunion tour when they played two nights at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, England.

2007 : The Bob Dylan “biographical” movie, I’m Not There: Suppositions On A Film Concern Dylan, premieres at the Venice (Italy) Film Festival.

2008 : The first guitar torched on stage by Jimi Hendrix sold for £280,000 at an auction of rock memorabilia. The Fender Stratocaster was burned at the end of a show at the Astoria in Finsbury Park, north London, in 1967. The sale held in London also included the Beatles’ first management contract, signed in 1962 by all four members of the group and manager Brian Epstein, sold for £240,00.

2008 : Friends and family of Michael Jackson paid their last respects to the singer at a funeral held at Glendale’s Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Los Angeles. Dame Elizabeth Taylor, Quincy Jones, Macaulay Culkin, Berry Gordy and Lisa Marie Presley were among the 200 invited guests. The singer’s family arrived in a motorcade of 31 vehicles, Jackson’s brothers – Randy, Jackie, Tito, Jermaine and Marlon – acted as pallbearers carrying Jackson’s gold-plated coffin.